When

FEBRUARY 24 – 26,
2025

Where

Westin Harbour Castle,
Toronto, ON

Thank you for being part of the International Conference on the Prevention of Youth Homelessness. Your valuable insights, shared experiences, and positive energy made this event truly special.

To continue the conversation, we’re sharing recordings of the plenary sessions, video interviews with insightful speakers, and blog posts from presenters. These resources will help you revisit key discussions and explore impactful ideas at your convenience.

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Plenary Sessions

Review the Plenary Sessions from the Conference where experts and lived experience panels discuss Youth Homelessness Prevention.

Monday, February 24th

  •  

    In this opening plenary session, Stephen Gaetz, President and CEO of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and Melanie Redman, President and CEO of A Way Home Canada, welcome 600+ attendees to the conference and invite them to learn and network over the coming days, with the goal of bringing actionable steps back to their community to advance their homelessness prevention efforts.

  •  

    Clayton Shirt (Plains Cree/Anishinaabe), Traditional Knowledge Keeper at the Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto, opened the conference by inviting attendees to participate in a Ceremony through traditional teachings, prayer, and a hand drum song performed by Michael Brown.

  • Opening Remarks

     

    Amy Bilodeau, Sr. Manager, Community Investment for The Home Depot Canada Foundation, title sponsor of the International Conference on the Prevention of Youth Homelessness, shares the Foundation’s commitment to preventing youth homelessness through multiple funded initiatives across Canada.

    Amy introduces MP Marci Ien, Minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth. MP Ien shares how the Federal government is investing in jobs, housing and supports for young people to prevent homelessness.

  • Panel

     

    This panel featured lived and community experts who are working in research, advocacy, or direct service provision with different populations of youth who are at-risk of housing precarity. Panelists discuss systems where youth homelessness could be prevented, including child welfare, education, and immigration systems, as well as imagine what prevention efforts might look in different contexts across Canada and internationally.

    They consider the following questions:

    • How are young people experiencing trajectories into homelessness right now?
    • What are promising ways to think of building strong systems of prevention across different territories?
    • How can research support the work being undertaken by those with lived experience and communities most impacted by housing precarity in Canada and abroad?

    Moderator:
    Jayne Malenfant, Assistant Professor, McGill University

    Panelists:

    • Thamer Linklater, Researcher at Social Change Lab, Trent University, Peterborough ON
    • Michael Reyes,  Street Outreach Worker, Toronto ON
    • Alex Poulin, Peer Researcher and Consultant in Homelessness Issues, Sherbrooke QC
    • Jupi Bowen, Housing Case Manager, Chicago IL

  • Fireside Chat

     

    Jayne Malenfant, McGill University, hosts a fireside chat with Stephen Gaetz, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and York University, about how he got his start on the frontlines of the homelessness sector to his current role in academia working to mobilize research in service of the community. In the past decade, his work, thanks to many cross-sector partnerships, has led to a national movement toward youth homelessness prevention.

Tuesday, February 25th

  •  

    Luana Shirt (Plains Cree/Anishinaabe) and Kanzee Gitimido opened in ceremony through traditional teachings and a traditional hand drum song, inviting our ancestors, family and friends to the gathering.

  • Opening Remarks

     

    In her opening remarks, Elizabeth McIssac, President of the Maytree and Board Director of Making the Shift, expressed gratitude for attendees’ commitment to preventing youth homelessness. She called for a collective effort to leverage the learning opportunities presented at the conference to create meaningful change for young people. Finally, she introduced MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who shared the Federal government’s commitment to preventing and ending youth homelessness in Canada.

  • Panel

     

    It takes an incredible amount of bold leadership to make the shift to prevention. Join A Way Home Canada’s Melanie Redman to learn from international and Canadian leaders who are doing just that! This plenary session will be fireside chat style, with guests including those with expertise across the Atlantic ocean, and within our own backyard. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear expert commentary on the current state of youth homelessness prevention, where we need to head, and how we can get there!

    Moderator

    Panelists

  • Keynote

     

    Youth homelessness work is at a crossroads. Tremendous work has been done in recent years to understand youth and young adult homelessness, develop creative responses, and move upstream to prevent youth homelessness before it starts. Yet in many countries, backlash against LGBTQ+ rights and racial equity have presented challenges for programs that serve at-risk and homeless young people. This talk from one of the leading experts on homelessness policy in the U.S. and internationally will explore these challenges and offer hope for the journey ahead.

    Speaker: Jeff Olivet, Olivet Consulting Group

Wednesday, February 26th

Our Dedicated Partners

This conference would not have been possible without the precious help of our sponsors. Thank you!

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